Tokarski Wins Goaltending Dual as Admirals Top Monarchs

NORFOLK, Va.  Goaltender Dustin Tokarski earned his first professional win with a 26-save shutout to lead the Norfolk Admirals (1-2-0-0) to their first victory of 2009-10  a 2-0 defeat of the Manchester Monarchs (2-1-0-0) on Saturday night at Norfolk Scope Arena.

The game remained scoreless through the first two periods, as Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff stymied all 25 Norfolk shots through forty minutes while Tokarski turned aside 16 Manchester shots.

The Admirals got on the board 5:54 into the final frame. Juraj Simek cut toward the net along the right wing and attempted to stuff a shot under Zatkoff. The shot ricocheted off the netminder back toward the slot before taking another bounce off the leg of Brandon Bochenski and landing into the net.

Tokarski turned aside all ten third period shots by the Monarchs and Ryan Craig potted an empty-net goal with 40 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

The Admirals will now hit the road for a three-game trip beginning on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. against the Albany River Rats. All Admirals games can be heard on STAR 1310-AM and star1310.com. You may also watch games on a subscription or pay-per-view basis online at ahllive.com.

Notes Tokarski joined teammate Riku Helenius as the only Norfolk Admirals (AHL) goaltenders to pitch a shutout for their first American Hockey League wins. Helenius whitewashed the Bridgeport Sound Tigers last February 6 at Scope Bochenskis game-winning goal was his 12th career GWG as an Admiral, tying him for first place on the Norfolk Admirals (AHL) all-time game-winning goals list with Ajay Baines, Casey Hankinson and Matt Keith LW Radek Smolenak made his return to the Admirals tonight after being claimed back on waivers by the Admirals parent club the Tampa Bay Lightning from the Chicago Blackhawks The Admirals killed off all nine Manchester power play attempts this weekend The Admirals are now 0-15 on the power play in their first three games of the 2009-10 season Scratches: F Martins Karsums, F Tommy Goebel, F Chris Lawrence, D Scott Jackson, G Riku Helenius Attendance: 2948.